Seite - 584 - in Jacopo Strada and Cultural Patronage at the Imperial Court - The Antique as Innovation, Band 2

Chapter ��584 is misplaced, as is clear not only from the vindictive tone of Stopio’s corre- spondence as a whole, but also from the fact that Fugger, one of the most intel- ligent and discriminating patrons of the sixteenth century, almost completely ignored his insinuations.18 In the following an attempt will be made to cull from the correspondence the facts about Strada’s activities in Venice, discard- ing Stopio’s subjective interpretations of these, and to place them as much as possible within the context afforded by other sources. 12.3.2 Acquisitions of Antiquities for Duke Albrecht v of Bavaria Strongly influenced by the ideas and the example of his Hofkammerpräsident, Hans Jakob Fugger, who by this time had become the Duke’s primary advi- sor in all artistic and intellectual matters, Albrecht V was bringing together at Munich a complex of collections expressly aimed to further the interests of the state as well as to serve the instruction and entertainment of the Prince and his immediate circle. This complex consisted of an encyclopaedic Kunst- kammer, a large library, and a collection of antiquities of a scale and quality unique north of the Alps. For the Kunstkammer an accommodation had just been completed, while the library and the Antiquarium were to be housed in a second, specially designed building, the conception of which is, as we have seen in chapter 8, largely due to Strada. Strada’s employment by the Duke was the direct and logical consequence of his earlier activities for Fugger. Strada had maintained his connection with Fugger after his appointment at the Imperial court, and it is likely that he con- tinued to scout and buy antiquities for him. It can hardly be a coincidence that Fugger had been in Venice in 1560 and accompanied Strada when he first ne- gotiated with the Venetian nobleman, Andrea Loredan, about the acquisition of part or all of his huge and very famous collection of antiquities for Emperor Ferdinand i, a deal which never materialized.19 Strada had been in Venice again in March 1562, when he provided and annotated an inventory of the smaller collection of Vincenzo del Gallo Bussoni, a list which is preserved in Munich with a German translation, doubtless provided by Fugger on the Duke’s be- half.20 When Fugger ceded his own collections to the Duke, he persuaded him to employ Strada in the acquisition of additional antiquities in Italy. 18 In a letter dated Vienna 30 March 1569 (BHStA–LA 4852, fols. 228 ff.) Fugger, at the time staying in Strada’s house, refutes Stopio’s accusations and sternly takes him to task for his own mistakes and omissions in his services to Fugger and Duke Albrecht, and stops responding to Stopio letters until the latter’s sudden death a few months later. 19 Von Busch 1973, pp. 117–118. 20 BHStA-LA 4851, fol. 29; printed in Stockbauer 1874, pp. 44–48.